


All The Right Reasons

by kuonji



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst and Humor, Established Relationship, M/M, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-31
Updated: 2012-03-31
Packaged: 2017-11-02 19:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/372478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuonji/pseuds/kuonji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four vignettes about why Jack loves Daniel. <em>That's his Danny, Jack thinks with fond exasperation. Has to take the hardest route if he can at all help it.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	All The Right Reasons

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired and based on the music video, by sarahgerbernx, which is edited to [the song of the same title, by Gary Louris](http://www.jayhawksfanpage.com/lyrics/rdmalltherightreasons.html).  It's romantic, with just enough drama and silliness to keep it from being sappy, and it caught my writing bug.   By the way, if anyone knows how to contact sarahgerbernx, please let me know.
> 
> Alternative Links:  
> <http://community.livejournal.com/jackslashdaniel/448962.html>

"Oh, Jaaack."

Daniel taps his empty coffee cup meaningfully. "For cryin' out loud," Jack grumps. "This much coffee can't possibly be good for you." Despite his words, he dutifully lifts the carafe he had appropriated and pours Daniel a cup. Black.

"What was that about?" Carter plunks down her tray before seating herself and staring between the two of them with open curiosity.

"He lost a bet." Daniel's all teeth as he tears into his banana-nut muffin. "He forgot my birthday. Again." He directs a look of playful hostility at Jack that Jack returns -- minus the playfulness.

"Sir, again? You swore up and down last year that you'd burn the date into your head."

"I did!" Jack protests. He had. July 8th, easy as pie. "But what with all the crap this week" -- stuck on P3R-J49 in the pouring rain for two hours, a visit from the Secretary of Commerce, and getting a cavity filled in his back upper molar -- "I can't even remember what month it is now, much less what day." Damn Novacain.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Daniel interjects. "Between another dorky hat and a fishing pole I'll never use, and having you as a manservant for a day, there's not much contest. Coffee, Sam?"

"Yes, thank you."

Jack rolls his eyes but finds himself ignored. Being commander of SG-1 never seems to carry much weight when on-world.

"Oops." Daniel uprights the empty carafe, Carter's outstretched cup only a quarter full. He waves his expressive eyebrows at Jack, his intent clear.

"I'll go fill it up, sir." Good old Carter. But.

"Don't bother. I've got it." The Wrath of Jackson is not to be ignored. He snatches up the carafe and makes sure to grumble audibly as he leaves for the food trays.

Let it never be said that the Air Force doesn't know its scientists. The SGC has had a man-high canister of brewing coffee ever since Jack can remember. As he fills the carafe from the spout, Jack turns to survey the two geeks on his team.

A couple of months ago, this day, Carter and Daniel wouldn't have had their heads together like they are now.

A firefight during which Carter had once again saved the base with the sweat of five days without sleep and her sheer brilliance alone had not been a good time to find out that her CO and her teammate were boffing on a regular basis.

For a solid week, Carter had been snippy to Daniel, borderline insubordinate with Jack, and cold towards Teal'c, whom she had accused (correctly) of knowing and not telling her. Finally, Daniel had dragged her off one night and worked his magic.

Jack still doesn't know what he said (or didn't say) to her (or vice versa). Years of interrogations, and all he's ever been able to get out of Daniel is: "We talked." Delivered, of course, in various tones and languages, and accompanied by every gesture imaginable, from eyebrow-raising and fork-wielding, to downright playground behavior.

Suffice it to say, Daniel and Carter... _talked_. And damn it all, if they haven't been best buddies since. They were close before, of course, and Daniel can make friends at the drop of a hat to begin with. It's too bad that he makes enemies the same way, but Jack supposes that's just part of Daniel's charm.

It's not such a big deal, Jack thinks. Really, it's not. Carter is a downright attractive individual, after all. There's no reason Daniel wouldn't enjoy her company.

She's smart as heck, brave as hell, loyal, practical, and wow, Jack hasn't really looked at Carter that way in a long time, but she fills out her uniform well, to boot.

As Jack's watching, he sees Carter cut herself off and pause to wave a hand in front of Daniel's face, before turning around to lock eyes with her CO. Belatedly, Jack skips his eyes away from her... assets, to check out Daniel's glowering expression. He winces.

Looks like pouring coffee for the day isn't going to cut it now.

Jack supposes Carter is justified in looking just a bit smug.

***

It's hot. Not uncomfortable, but pretty baking.

Carter is obviously having a good time, as she fits together the pieces of her solar-powered spectro-whatsit. She'd probably be humming to herself if she'd been alone. Jack watches as she adjusts a knob, sighting along a tube at the side.

Jack turns back to his survey of the landscape. Tall, rounded mountains towards the Gate, and nothing but grassland everywhere else, as far as the eye can see.

Exciting.

A shout draws his attention like a shot. He has his weapon up even before his mind processes the sound as belonging to Daniel. He leaves a small corner of his mind to kick himself. He should have been alert.

But it's only Teal'c. Big, muscled arms and wide-spread legs have Daniel half off the ground and in a fierce head lock. "You are again too slow, Daniel Jackson." Jack wonders if it's his imagination putting the amusement there.

"Wait, wait!" Daniel protests when Teal'c begins to loosen the hold. He twists, shimmies his shoulders a few inches, tries a couple of moves that probably would have thrown Carter or even Jack himself, but it's no use against Teal'c's bulk and expertise.

Still, Daniel struggles doggedly on for several more seconds before admitting defeat. That's his Danny, Jack thinks with fond exasperation. Has to take the hardest route if he can at all help it.

Daniel works his right shoulder with a grimace, once free. His muscles ripple with the movement. His black T is a close fit, and his well-defined torso cuts a fine silhouette against the prairie land.

Jack enjoys the view.

When had Daniel gotten so muscle-y anyway? Hadn't he been a shrimpy geek just yesterday?

Daniel catches sight of him looking. He raises his eyebrows, then stretches in a way that just happens to show off his pecs. He gives Jack a pointed stare, flicking to Jack's own less developed shoulders. Bastard.

Underneath that sweet, do-good exterior that all the girls go gaga for, Daniel's really kind of a jerk.

But Jack likes that. It gives him free rein to reciprocate.

"Hey, Teal'c!" he calls. "There's nothing going on, so why don't you show Daniel some of those throws you're so good at?"

Teal'c raises an eyebrow and there's no mistaking the amusement there this time. "I would be glad to."

"Be careful with him, eh? He's delicate." Jack ignores Daniel's glare, which doubles in sharpness when Teal'c inclines his head in apparent acquiescence.

Jack turns around and goes to check out Carter's progress. She's excited, so he lets her rattle through the explanation for what she's doing. Throughout it all, he enjoys each muffled 'Ow!' and 'Hey!' behind him with relish.

He's got a good team. None better.

***

"Daniel?"

The solid figure on the couch flinches slightly as Jack flips the lights on. He doesn't turn away from the television set. Jack sits down next to his somber lover and listens to the narrator drone on about tigers in the Himalayas.

"There's nothing we could have done." Daniel flinches at the words almost exactly as he had at the lights -- automatic, reacting without actually registering the words.

Jack glances at the tiered and colored chart on the TV. "So all these tigers are committing incest?" he remarks.

When that brings no response either, Jack knows something is wrong.

Wrong enough for him to reach around Daniel's wide, world-bearing shoulders and pull him into his chest.

Daniel resists for a good while, before he comes into the embrace with noticeable reluctance. Jack feels his sharp, broken exhale against his neck.

"We should have tried to help." This time it is Jack who sighs.

At moments like these, the long span of years and innocence and various detritus between them yawns wide.

"We would have started an interplanetary incident, and you know it." Daniel can never follow his own advice about supporting the native customs, not when it collides with his own soul.

Daniel is silent. Jack reaches the remote and cuts off the TV mid-sentence.

"C'mere."

The smooth slide into horizontal is practiced and familiar. Their mouths find each other with the same effortlessness with which their limbs align on the couch cushions. Hands roam, first with sweet rubs and slides, then with faster and steadily more urgent movements.

Young. So young, Jack thinks, as he molds his hands across the flawless skin and muscles, the eager sinews straining for...

It's messy and quick -- too much pent-up energy in both of them -- but both of them put all they are into it. By the time Daniel has finally worn himself out, he's got that slack, open look that Jack loves, the one that he wears only when just waking up, or as in this case, coming back to himself.

Daniel stretches one arm up to play with Jack's hair. It's perhaps a habit he's picked up from his lover. "It could have been us," he murmurs. Jack isn't sure if the catch in his voice is due to satiation or reaction. He doesn't care to ask.

"Yeah."

Bloody, mud-encrusted bodies on display is not what Jack likes to think about after making love.

He rubs his nose through Daniel's hair, grounding himself in the clean, sweaty scent.

"They didn't do anything wrong. Dammit...!" Daniel's palms go hot and possessive on Jack's hips. He's already restless again. Angry. Eyes dart even behind his closed lids, looking for help that Jack had refused to give.

Jack kisses him, open-mouthed, trying to soothe. "Time for bed."

Daniel snaps his eyes open, jerks away. "We're not doing anything wrong."

Jack pushes back. "Bed, Daniel," he warns.

Daniel makes a noise of disgust, but rolls off and up. He yanks himself together, shoves himself away like it's in defiance. Jack growls, frustrated, stands and hauls Daniel back to him.

It's a two-hug day.

"I know, Daniel. Don't you _ever_ think that I don't know. Know it down to my _bones_."

***

They're walking down the sidewalk in a nice neighborhood. Dogs bark from the yards as they pass, a bird soars overhead, and there's an honest-to-god white picket fence around the house at the corner.

The last time Jack had been here, he and Daniel had been sleeping on different sides of town, and the hair ratio between Teal'c and Sam had been shaded toward the Major.

"Is Catharine always so, uh..." Jack waffles one hand in the air, trying for something fond rather than stunned.

"Ernest got used to not talking much, I guess. Catharine must've gotten used to picking up the slack."

"How long have they been together now?"

Daniel frowns. Jack can almost see the numbers scrolling through his head like a marquee. He could sort out the memories and the math himself, of course, but a human database and calculator is good to have around. He smiles to himself, imagining the scowls he would receive if he were to voice such an opinion aloud.

"Almost seven years, I think."

"I meant, how long have they been in love?"

Daniel's mouth twitches, but he answers: "Over fifty years."

Jack grumps, putting the essence of 'noncommittal' into the sound. _Yeah, I'm a sap. Get over it._

He cuts a glance at his lover.

The setting sun striking Daniel's face makes his cheek glow red. He wonders if he looks the same. Like two drunks tipping down the street together.

On impulse, he rings Daniel's elbow with his own. It's the closest they've ever come to holding hands in public.

"Jack?" Daniel starts, but he doesn't snatch his arm away. He does, however, crane his neck to look around them in a decidedly indiscreet gesture of surveillance. Jack grins.

"I'm drunk," he announces, with an exacting tone of solemnity. When Daniel fixes him with a tented eyebrow look, he elaborates: "I'm drunk on life."

He stops, doesn't even think about it before he's reaching out, taking hold of Daniel's glasses, lifting them off his lover's face.

"What, is something--?"

And he's grabbing Daniel's hair, yanking him in, mashing their lips together like an awkward teenager. The kiss is confused and short.

"Jack, are you nuts?" Daniel's face is flushed, for real this time, no more trick of the sun. His eyes are wide and very blue in the dusky hours.

"I wanna grow old with you, Daniel Jackson. I want to get sick with you. I want to win the lotto with you and squander it all away together. And when we're both dead, I want to be pushing up daisies next to you. You get me? You tell me you don't want the same right now, or you forever hold your peace."

Daniel's mouth is hanging open. He squints around him again, though without his glasses, he's likely to miss anyone with a modicum of stealth. He comes back to Jack with the same stunned expression.

"Jack." He stumbles. "Yes." He's grabbing Jack's jacket. "I do. Whatever." He's pulling and Jack's going, and Baal's entire fleet could be beaming down around them right now, and they would never know it.

They spend the evening like any other, with a casual dinner, a game of chess. They climb up to Jack's deck at the darkest time of the night, pointing out constellations and heavenly bodies to each other until they grow sleepy with the skies: Mars, Andromeda, the Morning Star...

  


END.

__  
I don't know what day it is, / I can't recall the seasons  
And I don't remember how we got this far  
All I know is I'm loving you for all the right reasons  
In my sky you'll always be my morning star 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this story, you might try these:  
>      [All's Fair](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/9518.html) (Stargate SG-1), by kuonji  
>      [20/20](http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/13801.html) (Stargate SG-1), by kuonji  
>      [Returning And Returning](http://raqs.livejournal.com/398807.html) (Stargate SG-1), by raqs  
>      [Avalanche](http://princessofg.livejournal.com/131149.html) (Stargate SG-1), by princessofg  
>      [How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Daniel Jackson](http://starting-gate.livejournal.com/52959.html) (Stargate SG-1), by starting_gate  
>  


End file.
